Friday, July 21, 2017

Unemployment rates were lower in June in 10 states, higher in 2 states, and stable
in 38 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Twenty-seven states had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier
and 23 states and the District had little or no change. The national unemployment
rate, 4.4 percent, was little changed from May but was 0.5 percentage point lower
than in June 2016.
...
Colorado and North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rates in June, 2.3 percent
each. The rates in North Dakota (2.3 percent) and Tennessee (3.6 percent) set new
series lows. ... Alaska had the highest jobless rate, 6.8 percent, followed by New Mexico, 6.4 percent. emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). All states are well below the maximum unemployment rate for the recession.

The size of the blue bar indicates the amount of improvement. The yellow squares are the lowest unemployment rate per state since 1976.

Note: The larger yellow markers indicate the states that reached the all time low since the end of the 2007 recession. These ten states are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate. Alaska, at 6.8%, had the highest state unemployment rate.

The second graph shows the number of states (and D.C.) with unemployment rates at or above certain levels since January 2006. At the worst of the employment recession, there were 11 states with an unemployment rate at or above 11% (red).

Currently no state has an unemployment rate at or above 7% (light blue); Only two states and D.C. are at or above 6% (dark blue). The states are Alaska (6.8%) and New Mexico (6.4%). D.C. is at 6.2%.